Chapter I
It begins…

I woke up in a daze…this morning felt different than normal.  My dream last night…what was it about? All that I could remember were the words “To live is to die, to die is to live”. What could that mean? I kept thinking about it as I got up and went through my normal morning routine. Jumping in the shower, getting dressed, eating a quick breakfast, brushing my teeth…it was the only thing on my mind. I’d even almost forgotten to see what time it was. I glanced at the clock and realized that I had to be at the bus stop…now. I ran outside, slamming the door behind me, and made it to the bus stop just as the school bus was pulling up to pick us up. I sat next to my friends Cody and Dane, and they looked kind of surprised.
“I thought you weren’t going to make it, Jeremy.” Cody said lazily, wiping his eyes so that he could focus. Dane kept quiet, and started out the window.
“Nah…there’s a test in History today! You think I’d miss that excitement?” I said sarcastically, as I adjusted how I was sitting, to get comfortable for the longer than necessary bus ride.
“Hah…you just want to see Amber!” Cody teased me…but I’m not saying it wasn’t true. Amber Newhart…she was an angel. Not literally of course, though I wouldn’t be surprised. I was completely infatuated with her, and anyone who’s hung around me for more than an hour probably knows that. I could never have her though… she was popular, and I am not. I’ve never seen her talking to anyone that’s not in the “popular” clique; and figured she had no interest in me at all…I mean, who would?
“Do not!” I tried to deny it…but my face turning red was a sure sign that I was lying. I really hated that, but I couldn’t help it. I never blushed for anything or anyone else; but when Amber came up in conversation, my face decides to turn into a tomato.
Knowing he’d won, I punched him in the arm, and was completely satisfied by the obligatory “Ow!” it produced from him. He didn’t say anything else, and I used the time to think about my dream again. I still had no idea what it could mean, and figured I probably never would. I wished I could forget about it, but that probably wasn’t going to happen either. I dwelled on this until I felt something hit my left arm quite hard. Taken out of my trance by the pain, I looked over and saw Cody; I’d kind of forgotten he was there.
“Hey Jeremy it’s time to go, dude.” He said, pointing to the school through the window.
I sighed, grabbed my books, and got up. Everyone else had already gotten off the bus, and I wondered how long we were sitting there before Cody punched me. The bus driver looked rather annoyed, so it must’ve been a lot longer than either of us would have liked. I exited the bus and made my way towards school. I noticed that there weren’t many people walking into the school…we must be late. As I walked through the threshold to my daily hell, I heard the bell ring…yep, we were late.
I ran to my class without stopping at my locker. My homework was in there, but I couldn’t afford another tardy. I sat down, and looked at the familiar items around the room. Beakers, test tubes…the typical things you’d find in a science lab. I detested Science, even though I was doing very well in the class.
Once the tardy bell had rung, and the teacher took roll, I allowed my mind to wander off. Thoughts of the dream lingered inside my head…but I didn’t really think about them too much, because there really wasn’t much to think about; I had no idea what it meant or why I remember those words so vividly, and yet nothing else. Again, I was thrown out of my trance; and again, by something hitting me, but this time it was my forehead. I looked down and there was a dry erase marker sitting on the table, rolling toward the edge. I stopped it, and looked up.
“Mr. Arlent.” My teacher said angrily, “I’ll ask you again…which kind of cell has a cell wall?”
I knew the answer, but since I wasn’t paying attention at all, it took me a minute to recall it. “Uhh…plant cells?” I said lazily…I was still tired and would rather be daydreaming.
“That is correct” she said, “please do try to stay with us from now on.”
Of course I did the exact opposite, and started to daydream a minute or so after the incident. I assumed that I wasn’t asked any more questions, since nothing else was thrown at me the rest of class. I was awoken by the bell this time, and I got out of the classroom as quickly as possible. Just being in that class was utter torture. I wandered out into the hallway, trying to remember what my next class was. I needed to stop daydreaming if I couldn’t even remember that. After a minute I remembered, it was gym. Oh joy, my next least favorite class. I’d realized I was walking the wrong way, turned around, and headed to the gym.
When I got there, I remembered my gym clothes were sitting in my backpack…which was hanging off of the coat rack next to the door at home. I cursed myself again; I really needed to stop spacing out. No gym clothes meant doing nothing in the class and getting a zero for the day. I was doing this more often lately, and my grade was suffering; but I shrugged and thought one more couldn’t hurt. I informed the gym teacher that I didn’t have my clothes, and after glaring at me, he marked it down on his clipboard and told me to sit down against the wall by the door. I did just that, overjoyed that I actually had time to daydream without consequence. Sure, I needed to stop doing that, but again…what could one more time hurt?
Gym class went by too fast, and I got up to go to my next class, Math. I was excited, not only because I actually didn’t mind math, but because Amber was in the class! I practically ran to the class, and sat down…waiting anxiously for Amber to arrive. Once she did, I watched her walk to her seat out of the corner of my eye, blushing slightly. This was another thing I needed to stop doing; but I didn’t see it ever happening.
For this hour I actually paid attention, sneaking a glance at Amber whenever possible; and hoping she would answer many questions so that I wouldn’t look weird staring at her, since the whole class usually turns towards whoever is talking. Math went by quite fast as well, but I didn’t mind…History was next. While we did actually have a test, Amber shared that class with me too, and it was also the last class of the day. I walked out of class, a couple people behind Amber, and followed her to our next class. Thoughts went through my head, making me feel like a stalker, but I ignored them, and continued onward.
In History I actually sit pretty close to Amber, so of course I was blushing even more when I sat down, and hating myself even more for it. The test was easy, and I got done before everyone else. I took the opportunity to stare at Amber some more…she was one seat in front of me, and one to the left, so it didn’t look weird if someone looked over here. She looked so cute, concentrating on her test. I was still kind of blushing, and really wished I could work up the courage to talk to her. She finished, got up and turned her test in; but when she sat down she looked back and smiled at me. I was so overwhelmed by such a small gesture I had to put my head down so nobody would see my face the color of ketchup. The bell soon rang, and I got up, happy that school was over; but sad that I wouldn’t see Amber until the next day.
The bus ride home went by in a daze, nobody really talked to me, and I stared out the window, thinking of Amber, and unfortunately, my dream. I got home, made a sandwich, and sat down on the couch in the living room. I looked at the clock, it was 3:00; nobody would be home for a few hours. I turned the TV on; and searched for something decent to watch. There was nothing of course, midday TV is terrible. I practically inhaled my sandwich; I hadn’t even realized I was hungry until I took the first bite. After settling on watching a random cartoon I didn’t exactly love, and eating my sandwich, I was suddenly very tired. It’s not like I had anything to do, so I went upstairs to my room, jumped on my bed, and took a nap.
My dream was…weird to say the least. I was in Fraser, my town; but something was different…it was dark. Like, pitch black; I wasn’t even sure how I knew it was Fraser at first when I thought about it. Then, I saw a light…I was attracted to it, like a moth to a flame. Anything to get out the darkness; I ran towards it. It seemed so far away, but I’d reached it quicker than I thought I would.
I stumbled out of the darkness, and saw my house; again, it seemed different. It was tinted red, and the lawn was very unkempt. I looked around but could not see my neighborhood; it was just darkness everywhere but my yard. Confused, I walked inside; it was like nobody ever lived here, completely bare. Not a single piece of furniture was to be seen, not even carpet. I continued to look around, for any sign of life, and found nothing. That is, until I walked into my room. 4 coffins floated eerily in it, and rotated so that they were facing me at all times. As if this didn’t freak my out enough, all the coffins busted open at once, revealing what else? Four bodies; and not just bodies…I instantly recognized all of them, they were my grandparents. They’d all died before I was born, but I saw them enough in pictures to recognize them.
Before being able to inspect them more closely, everything faded away. The coffins, my room, my house, my yard…it was all evaporating before my eyes. I was left in the darkness, yet again; but then the darkness turned into light. It was so pure, so bright that I was completely blinded for a moment. I squinted, and thought I could make out a dark figure. Once I could clearly see, it didn’t get any clearer; it was still just the figure of a man, I couldn’t make out any details or anything even slightly human about it other than its shape.
“Um…hello?” I said out loud. Or rather, I tried to say it out loud, nothing came out. I tried a few more times, with the same result.
“Hello, Jeremy” I heard in my head. It was in a different voice than my own, and I didn’t remember thinking it. “All communication is done through thinking here…there is no true speech” Again, I didn’t remember thinking that, but the odds were it was the figure in front of me.
“Hello? What do you mean, here? Where is here?” I thought, and it seemed to understand.
“This is the land of the dead, Jeremy.” The figure “said”.
“Wait…if this is the land of the dead, then why am I here? All I did was fall asleep! Did I die in my sleep?!” I said frantically.
“No, you didn’t die, calm down. When people dream, they go here. They just think that they’re dreaming because of the things that can happen here.”
“Oh…I guess that makes sense? Well, why can’t I talk? Why can I hear you inside my head?”
“That’s an even more simple answer, you’re technically dead…corpses can’t talk, so neither can you.”
“Okay…so then why are you talking to me? Do you talk to others? Do others know about this?”
“No, Jeremy, you’re the first. Someone is here that shouldn’t be, and is slowly taking over, throwing off the balance between the lands of the living and dead. It could mean the end for both worlds…so I’ve chosen you to help return things back to normal.”
“Why me? Are there going to be others? I don’t want to do anything like this alone…”
“I chose you because I thought you had the most potential; and yes, there will be others. They will help you; I will make sure of it.”
“Okay…okay…another thing….who are you? And, if this is a dream, why can’t I wake up?”
“Who I am is not of importance, and I control when you wake up, so you’d better listen to what I have to say.”
“Well then I guess I don’t have a choice…what do you have to say?”
“Only this…to die is to live, and to live is to die. You’d better remember that, Jeremy…it could help you out of a quite fatal situation later on.”
“Wait…what does that mean?!”
I woke up sweating, on the floor. I looked at the clock and saw that it was only 5 o’clock. Wow…I thought I’d slept longer than that…my parents aren’t even home yet. Hmm…I should probably do something about what that guy said. I grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down what he said, the very words that plagued my day earlier. “To live is to die…and to die is to live.” While I may not know what it means, it couldn’t hurt to write it down…